Its all good. I should be graduating in May and then, hopefully, I can return to my normal reading habits. I have to start on A Sentimental Journey this weekend. Last book of the semester. Kinda makes me sad.

"Let me not wander in a barren dream,
But, when I am consumed in the fire,
Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire."

i've just begun reading 'the brothers karamazov' for the first time. the only dostoevsky i had previously read was 'crime and punishment' which i loved, and this one is also shaping up to be thoroughly enjoyable.

although 'the brothers k' is my main read at present, i'm juggling it with a few other books including 'they stand together: the letters of c s lewis to arthur greeves'. it's quite humbling to discover how well lewis could write at 16, and how remarkably well read he was (the two things are always going to be closely connected of course...)

Saturn wrote:The sequel Dark Visions is excellent too you must read that also

Richard Holmes' biographies are always brilliant, his Shelley one in particular is probably the best biography I've ever read.

I think I've read it at least three times.

That's two books on my 'to buy' list, thanks for those... Holmes is a superb debunker of myths about the Romantics. Before him, critics would have had you believe Coleridge was a hopeless opium addict spiralling into madness.

Was it true when Shelley's body was found washed up, he had a copy of Keats' works on him?

"Language has not the power that Love indites: The Soul lies buried in the ink that writes" ~ John Clare

Heaven/Hell wrote:Was it true when Shelley's body was found washed up, he had a copy of Keats' works on him?

That myth is one that is actually true

It was a copy of the 1820 volume of poems I think.

That is correct. It was found bent double back in his pocket as if he'd hasitily thrust it away in his coat--probably he had been reading when the storm arose. The book of Keats's poems was one of the items that helped identify Shelley's body as it was quite decomposed when it was found. Now, I don't think Shelley could have more of a "Romantic" end to his life than that--it's truly something out of a novel or a film, isn't it?

Credo Buffa wrote:Why does Hollywood create crap like The Hills Have Eyes 2 when there's such a wealth of great material out there that has yet to make a legitimate appearance on screen?!

I've always wondered this: Hollywood either flogs a dead horse (I've hardly ever seen a decent sequel to a film) or regurgitates the classics, forgetting the fact that the reason they were called 'Classic' in the first place is because they were perfect and memorable.

I've heard rumours they are making Jack Kerouac's On The Road which I absolutely adore, but I know they're going to ruin it in some way. It's a deep soul-searching book, something today's consumerist ideals would have trouble finding meaning in.

"Language has not the power that Love indites: The Soul lies buried in the ink that writes" ~ John Clare